Chef Salad Recipes

How the Chefs at Great Restaurants Get Salads to Taste So Delicious

Steal their tricks to start craving more veggies.

How the Chefs at Great Restaurants Get Salads to Taste So DeliciousSteal their tricks to start craving more veggies.

When you eat a salad at a nice restaurant, it tastes amazing. But when you make one for yourself for lunch on a random Saturday, it can be kind of sad. That's why we tapped Adin Langille, executive chef of the recently opened New York City restaurant David Burke Fabrick—which has the type of salads you dream about at night for weeks afterward—to share some of his secrets. Learn from them to take your own salads up a notch, and if you're feeling extra-ambitious, use the recipes he's shared to recreate some of his best veggie-based dishes at home.

Infuse Your Own Oil
The burrata salad at Fabrick is kind of like the Inception equivalent of salad: It's a recipe within a recipe within a recipe. Don't let that scare you off, though. Making your own infused oil—and then using that to make a flavorful quinoa salad—isn't hard. It does require a little prep work—but once you taste the difference, you'll never go back to boring old salads again.

1. Heat water and salt in a small pot until it boils. Add quinoa slowly, and stir until water starts to simmer. Reduce heat to low, and cover.
2. Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until quinoa pops and becomes tender. Cool, and fluff with a fork.
3. Toss with basil oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Basil Oil
3 bunches basil, picked and cleaned
2 cups olive oil

Place basil and oil in a blender, and puree on high until mixture begins to steam and separate. Strain through a cheesecloth (it's available in many grocery stores or at cooking supply stores).

*You can use a vegetable peeler or a mandolin to shave veggies, which just means making thin slices of them.

Mix Multiple Lettuces
At home, you probably stick with romaine or kale and use that as your lettuce base. But switching up your leafy greens makes for a better salad right from the start. This one from chef Langille combines kale and escarole, then tops them with carrots, fennel, beets, and dressing.

Be Picky with Your Ingredients
Rather than making his market salad with just any type of goat cheese, chef Langille uses triple crème goat cheese because of its luscious texture. Similarly, he uses heirloom cherry tomatoes instead of the regular kind you find in the supermarket. Of course, you can substitute in any type of goat cheese or tomatoes in a pinch—but to really take the flavor up a notch, it helps to use premium and sometimes a little out-of-the-ordinary ingredients.

1. Toss all greens in a mixing bowl with vinaigrette, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Spray a pan with cooking spray, then pan-fry diced potatoes over medium heat until tender throughout, about 8 minutes. Throw in bacon, and cook until heated through.
3. Cut goat cheese into bite-sized pieces. Place greens on a plate, then top with goat cheese and tomato. Finish with bacon and potato mixture, and add shaved fresh mushrooms on top.

*You can use regular cherry tomatoes if you can't find heirloom.
**You can use a vegetable peeler or a mandolin to shave veggies, which just means making thin slices of them.